Menley and Adam Nichols rent Remember
House on Cape Cod for their
summer vacation hoping to find peace and healing
after the death of
their two-year-old son, Bobby, and to complete Menley’s recovery from
post-traumatic stress disorder. Menley was driving the car when
it was hit by a train at a level crossing, killing Bobby. Guilt
and remorse nearly destroyed Menley and Adam’s marriage, but the
subsequent birth of their
daughter Hannah has brought them back
together.
Instead of peace, however, they immediately become involved in a local
murder mystery. The police suspect that neighbour Scott Covey
murdered his wife Vivian; Scott was penniless and Vivian wealthy, and
the murder occurred within weeks of the wedding. Menley
sympathises with Scott and convinces Adam, a prominent criminal lawyer,
to represent him.
Menley has her own battles to wage inside her home. She finds
Hannah in an old cradle instead of her crib, but has no memory of
moving her there during the night. When Scott has to go back to
New York overnight, she wakes up hearing Bobby screaming and a train
roaring through the
house. At times, there is a musty smell or
unexplained draft in Hannah’s room. Menley fears that she is
losing her mind and worries about being sent back to hospital and
losing her daughter.
Menley has to work through her private fears alone because Scott makes
it obvious that he does not trust her alone with Hannah. It also
becomes obvious to Menley that the realtor who rented Remember House
for them is in love with Scott and lied to get them into that
particular house. Menley must struggle to regain the trust of her
husband even as she struggles to trust herself.
In addition to these mysteries, Menley is researching the story of
Captain Andrew Freeman who built Remember House in the early eighteenth
century for his wife Mehitabel. Neighbour Tobias Knight accused
Mehitabel of adultery and Andrew, believing the charge, abandoned
Mehitabel and took away their daughter. Was Mehitabel innocent as
she claimed with her dying breath?
Menley’s survival depends on the ability of detective Nathaniel Coogan
to discover the truth about Vivan Covey’s death and Adam’s willingness
to believe in his wife. All questions, including that of
Mehitabel’s guilt or innocence, are answered in only a few minutes on a
stormy night in Remember House.